Arias Román, Sheila M.

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    Evaluation of different immobilization techniques of TiO2 particles in sintered glass substrate (SGS) for the degradation of Humic acid solutions
    (2017) Arias Román, Sheila M.; Tarafa Vélez, Pedro J.; College of Engineering; Suárez, O. Marcelo; Hwang, Sangchul; Department of Civil Engineering; Romero, Juan
    It is well known that humic acids (HAs) have become one of the most extensively investigated organic material since they are considered one of the principal precursors of harmful compounds such as trihalomethanes (THMs). In the last few years, great efforts have focused in the development of treatment alternatives to mitigate the formation of THM’s. In spite of the considerable attention devoted to the removal of HA from raw water its continuous presence increase the potential for THMs formation above acceptable levels. To overcome this problem it is urgent to develop a practical technology for the water treatment facilities for the removal of the HAs. Hence, the present research aimed to develop an alternative to remove or destroy HAs in an aqueous medium through a TiO2 assisted photocatalytic degradation. Different techniques for the immobilization of TiO2 porous glass substrate (SGS) and its efficiency in degrading HA were evaluated. Four approaches were investigated to incorporate the TiO2 particles in the SGS: 1) TiO2 particles embedded in the SGS; 2) TiO2 immobilization by gravitational deposition and evaporation; 3) immobilization by TiO2 coating over the SGS surface; and 4) TiO2 immobilization with Polyvinyl Alcohol. The SGS optimal percolation rate, surface porosity and total porosity as function of sintering temperature and time were investigated. The effect of the thermal treatment in the polymorph structure of the TiO2 particles and GTCs was also assessed. It was found that the sintering time and temperature were critical experimental parameters since a decrease in the SGS open porosity, total porosity, and percolation was observed as these parameters increases. The thermal treatment used for the immobilization process did not affected the crystal structure of the TiO2 since the anatase phase was confirm in the XRD diffractogram. The removal efficiency was greater under acid conditions due to effect of electrostatic attraction and further adsorption that leads to a photomineralization of HA. Despite the discrepancy in the immobilization techniques, the photocatalytic degradation experiments showed that the performance and photoactivity of each GTC were very similar.